Reply #8: It's relevant for the following reasons, at least -

[yardwork]

1. Shows the need for better mental health care in the United States.

2. Shows that SOME people who live "self-sufficient" lives actually DO need help from the government, whether they realize it or not.

3. It shines some reality on a popular Republican myth, which is that every American is just fine all by themselves, don't need no government interference, no "socialized" health care, no social services, no help with food or housing, etc. etc.

I have no idea whether these people vote Republican or not (sounds like voting is probably a low priority in their lives) but they are the flip side to an image that the Republican Party has attempted to romanticize as "sturdy, self-sufficient, independent people."

Some people really do need help.